Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) A court convicting
an offender of a family violence offence (category B) may declare the offender
to be a serial family violence offender if —
(a) the
offender has, on that conviction, been convicted of at least 2 prescribed
offences which may only be tried on indictment, with at least 2 of those
prescribed offences having been committed on different days; or
(b) the
offender has, on conviction, been convicted of at least 3 prescribed offences,
with at least 3 of those prescribed offences having been committed on
different days.
(2) For the purposes
of subsection (1) —
(a) the
victim of each offence may, but need not be, the same person; and
(b) the
offences need not be the same offences; and
(c) the
offences need not to have occurred in the State as long as 1 of them did; and
(d) 1 or
more of the convictions may have been convictions by a court outside the
State; and
(e) it
is immaterial in which order the offences were committed; and
(f) an
offence will not be taken into account if the offence was committed by a
person who, at the time of the commission of the offence, was under 18 years
of age; and
(g) each
of the offences taken into account must have been committed within a period of
10 years of each other unless the court is satisfied that exceptional
circumstances exist that make it appropriate to make a declaration under this
section (after taking into account the matters referred to in subsection (4)
and such other matters as the court may consider to be relevant).
(3) A declaration may
be made by the court on its own initiative or on an application by the
prosecutor.
(4) Without limiting
any other matter that a court dealing with an application under this section
may consider to be relevant, the court must have regard to the following
—
(a) the
level of risk that the offender may commit another family violence offence
(category B);
(b) the
offender’s criminal record;
(c) the
nature of the prescribed offences for which the offender has been convicted.
(5) In addition, the
court may —
(a)
before it makes a declaration, order an assessment of the offender by an
approved expert; and
(b) take
the report of that assessment into account when deciding whether to make the
declaration.
(6) In connection with
the operation of subsection (5) —
(a) an
approved expert is authorised by this subsection to examine and assess the
offender and to report in accordance with this section; and
(b) the
report may indicate —
(i)
the approved expert’s assessment of the level of
risk that the offender may commit another family violence offence (category
B); and
(ii)
the reasons for this assessment;
and
(c) in
preparing the report, the approved expert may —
(i)
take into account any other information or report
provided to, or obtained by, the approved expert; and
(ii)
include in the report any other assessment or opinion, or
address any other matter, that the approved expert considers to be relevant in
the circumstances;
and
(d) the
approved expert may prepare the report even if the offender does not
cooperate, or does not fully cooperate, in any examination associated with the
assessment.
[Section 124E inserted: No. 30 of 2020 s. 29;
amended: No. 28 of 2024 s. 72.]